The Puffer Forum

2 parts, really:

1. I've been feeding all my puffers every other day. I've read several places that most aquarists really over-feed, so I thought I'd try this. What is your opinion?

2. What do F8s really love?

It seems each of my puffer species has a completely different approach to food. And completely different preferences.
The F8s get mostly snails, but they don't tear into them the way I'd expect. Today, they got a small bit of tiger shrimp with the shell on it. They seemed to be pretty interested in it, initially, but I had to leave and couldn't stick around to watch them. I gave them a mussel 2 days ago and when I pulled it out yesterday it had not been touched. No more mussels for them. They do like bloodworms - that seems to be the only universal food all my puffs love. But I know they don't do anything for teeth.

Have you tried crab legs?

Hammer them a bit, they chew on the cracked shells to get to the meat. You will probably have to hammer is a good bit for F8s

No, the tiger shrimp were on sale, and I thought that might be close. I'll have to find a small crab somewhere. Are the legs the only part you feed them? Like a blue crab maybe?

any shell fish..

don't know how well they do on snails though.

J-P wrote:don't know how well they do on snails though.

My F8s love snails. But they love anything I throw into their tank.

pond snails work best with F8's IME...easy to breed urself too

oops

I'm going down the pond snail colony tank route for mine... waiting for a small tank to arrive i feed my F8's blood worm and finely chopped mussles alternately but they really dig on snails. once the colony is up and running they get mostly snails.

the reason I asked about the snails is because with a shell fish diet only they will lack some vitamins (B1?) and that needs to be supplemented. I am not certain if snails will do the trick though. They may... I don't know.

Didn't RTR say that his F8 longevity study showed that F8s do best on a mostly snail diet? That's why I am trying to get a breeding colony going. It's just that my snails are mostly too small to feed just yet, although there are lots of tiny babies in there now. I'm feeding homemade snail jello and it seems to make a difference.

Also...how often, saying I do use seafood in between snails?

My F-8s all got a diet of 90-95% snails, both common pond and ramshorns. Fish less than standard adult size got food 6 days a week. At standard size, they were weaned to alternate-day feeding (that is maximum for all of my adult fish) for the rest of their long lives.

None of them was picky, almost all would eat anything I dropped into their tank -shell-on shrimp pieces, crab legs, mussels, small earthworms, whatever. For mt they were quite GSP-like in their diets, but easier because I could culture their primary diet.

~reefchik~ wrote:No, the tiger shrimp were on sale, and I thought that might be close. I'll have to find a small crab somewhere. Are the legs the only part you feed them? Like a blue crab maybe?

I usually just do the crab legs because they are cheaper than buying a hole crab or buying the main part of the crab alone.

Now, do not throw a whole crab leg in for a few F8s..you will go through them to fast to be economical..

Before I freeze them I just tear or crack them into smaller pieces (Look through your tool box and you will find something that will help you!)-this will be messy!

Then I freeze...

The unfreeze a chunk at a time. The hammer the heck out of it, especially on the hardest side. If it were a fahaka I would not hammer so much..but for lil puffs you need to hammer it more.

For me, especially with my bigger GSPs the crabs legs are working better than the snails.

I usually use blue snow crab legs because they are cheaper, and I go to a seafood market or a Hispanic market because they are cheaper than places like Walmart and I can find better quality.

I usually buy a pack that will last me for 2 + weeks for around 3-4 bucks.

RTR wrote:My F-8s all got a diet of 90-95% snails, both common pond and ramshorns. Fish less than standard adult size got food 6 days a week. At standard size, they were weaned to alternate-day feeding (that is maximum for all of my adult fish) for the rest of their long lives.

None of them was picky, almost all would eat anything I dropped into their tank -shell-on shrimp pieces, crab legs, mussels, small earthworms, whatever. For mt they were quite GSP-like in their diets, but easier because I could culture their primary diet.

Thanks so much for clarifying this for me. So right now, with these juveniles (my two F8s are about 1.5 - 2 inches long including tail) probably I should feed every day.

Thanks purplecandle. I'll scout out some blue crab legs. All I know of for sure we have at Kroger are snow crab legs, and unless I eat the rest of them for dinner, that's somewhat overkill But there's a very high seafood market just south of here I can check.

I've heard of a place in Kettering though I have never been there. I will call them and see if they have blue crab legs as purplecandle told me to try them as well.

Formost Seafood,
1904 Woodman Center Dr. South
Kettering, OH 45420
937-298-1986

Mine likes and will continue to eat snails as the majority of his diet but I figure a little diversity is a good thing and may keep him stimulated. I have been feeding him two or three eye sized snails here and there as opposed to one big feeding. I figure this is how they eat in the wild...But what do I know. Most of the time he doesn't eat the snails right away and I will hear a crunch from the tank about an hour later. He does get a dime sized ramshorn every several days and he loves those. I let him attack it and get what he can then I crush the shell for him.